Forfeits scramble Legion Area II standings

Tuesday

Jun 27, 2017 at 2:01 AM

The Area II American Legion baseball standings have been scrambled because both Whiteville and Morehead City had to forfeit all their games for different reasons.

Whiteville inadvertently had an ineligible player on its roster, forcing it to forfeit all 11 of its league games instead of being 9-2 in conference action while Morehead City, which was 5-3 overall and in Area II play, forfeited its games because it has opted out of the playoffs.

Both teams will finish out the regular season, with Whiteville still eligible to take part in the best-of-three playoffs that begin July 7.

As a result of the forfeits, Hope Mills leads Area II with a 10-1 record while Wilmington is second at 8-1.

Area II Commissioner Rick Zickafoose said there was nothing “malicious” about Whiteville having an ineligible player who was “about 12 days too old,” saying it was just an honest mistake.

“They just missed that,” Zickafoose said. “So every game they played are forfeits. But they still will be in the playoffs. They just instead of being up where they were at are going down a little bit. That does put a damper on them.”

Whiteville coach Jeff Lamd said “five minutes” before a game the player gave him his paperwork, which he briefly scanned and put in a folder.

“I never looked at it (again). I never thought it would be an issue,” he said, adding he discovered the oversight as he was putting together his roster for the playoffs and reported the mistake. “Totally dropped the ball. It wasn’t intentional.

“You hate it. You hate it for the kid. You hate it for the family. You hate it for the team.”

Morehead City, meanwhile, cannot “fulfill their agreement this year and they are not going to playoffs,” Zickafoose said. “So to make it fair to everyone the games (other teams lost to Morehead City) will be awarded wins.”

Initially, Zickafoose didn’t want to talk about Morehead City’s situation because he and the team’s coaches and athletic officer didn’t want to let the information become public for fear of its impact on the players. But Zickafoose agreed to speak briefly after being told the Whiteville coach had already sent out a statement that wound up on Twitter. It was also learned later that there was another news report out already concerning Morehead City forfeiting games.

With the forfeits, the playoffs will feature six, not seven teams, and will pit the No. 1 seed against No. 6, No. 2 vs. No. 5 and No. 3 against No. 4.

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